Karl Malone scored 32 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and the
Utah Jazz remained perfect on their road trip by posting their
13th straight victory over the Boston Celtics, 110-94.

Malone scored 21 of his points in the second half, when the Jazz
took the lead for good. Jeff Hornacek, who scored 13 points,
snapped a 51-51 deadlock with a jumper 63 seconds into the third
quarter.

"I think early in the season you saw us get off to quick starts
and finish slow," Malone said. "Now it seems we start slow and
we finish fast. As the season ends, I think that's what we want
to be doing."

Utah withstood a pair of runs by Boston after taking the lead
for good. The last, which pulled the Celtics within 90-84
midway through the fourth quarter, was repelled by six straight
points by Malone as the Jazz won their fourth game in a row.

"We did a real good job of being patient in that fourth
quarter," said Malone. "We fought through their slapping and
their holding. We didn't do it well early on, but later on we
did. The holding and the slapping I expect from a team like
that because they don't have a lot of size."

Utah also improved to 3-0 on its five-game road swing.

"You've got to take your hat off to Utah, because this is their
third game in four nights," said Boston coach Rick Pitino.
"They played smart offensive basketball and we didn't. We had
poor spacing, which allowed them to constantly slap at the
basketball."

Antoine Walker collected 36 points and 10 rebounds for the
Celtics, who had a three-game winning streak halted. Boston,
which has not beaten the Jazz since December 20th, 1991, lost
coach Rick Pitino to an ejection with 4:04 to play.

"It really wasn't one call as much as it was the whole game,"
Pitino complained. "It really doesn't help to complain about
officiating, but I just don't like it when Bruce Bowen goes to
the basket and gets his head taken off. You just breathe on one
of their name players, or a name player in the league, and they
get the call."

Adam Keefe contributed 12 points and seven rebounds and John
Stockton added 10 points and nine assists for Utah, which shot
50 percent (35-of-70) percent from the field in winning for the
11th time in 12 games.

The Jazz also dominated from the line. Utah hit 37-of-45
attempts from the stripe for 82 percent. Malone was 12-for-16
and Keefe made 6-of-6. The Celtics hit 23-of-34.

Ron Mercer had 15 points and Kenny Anderson 10 for the Celtics,
who shot 45 percent (35-of-77) and were outrebounded, 41-33.
Boston forced more turnovers in the sloppy contest, turning 23
Utah miscues into 28 points. The Celtics' 19 turnovers were
exchanged for 22 points by the Jazz.

Trailing 69-61, the Celtics closed within two with a 10-4 burst.
Walker scored nine in the run, including a jumper with 2:36 left
to make it 73-71. But Utah went on a 9-1 spurt of its own in
the final 75 seconds of the period. Hornacek's layup with four
seconds to go in the quarter boosted the Jazz to an 82-72 lead.

After a pair of free throws by Howard Eisley widened the gap to
90-78, Mercer, Walker and Bruce Bowen all hit shots to pull
Boston within 90-84. But Malone took over, hitting two free
throws, a layup off Stockton's miss and a turnaround jumper to
end the threat.

The Jazz, who conclude their trip with games at Milwaukee on
Friday and New Jersey on Saturday, have won seven of their last
eight road games overall.